Ernesto C. Gapasin - Buffalo, NY

Ernesto C. Gapasin is a Senior Counsel at Tully Rinckey, PLLC. Ernesto Gapasin continues to obtain outstanding results for his clients and attributes much of his success to years of experience, solid and disciplined courtroom skills, and a diligent work ethic. Ernesto has been a licensed attorney since November 1999, when he became a member of the State Bar of Nevada and then became a licensed attorney in Missouri in 2004. Ernesto is a member of the National Trial Lawyers Association, having been named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer for multiple years as well as being awarded a Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyer.

Ernesto earned a commission to the United States Army as a Judge Advocate General and graduated from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May 2005. Because of Ernesto’s civilian experience as a criminal defense lawyer, he desired to focus all his efforts on military trials. As a result, he aggressively sought an assignment to Okinawa, Japan, as a Defense Counsel. Ernesto was tasked with raising a Trial Defense Service (“TDS”) office on Okinawa, where none had existed before. He established and ran the first-ever Trial Defense Service office on Okinawa that served soldiers in Okinawa, mainland Japan, and Korea. Harkening back to his past experiences as a criminal defense lawyer in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ernesto established a policy of aggressively contesting all cases. He developed a reputation for wargaming a court-martial from beginning to end with an aggressive cross-examination style that resulted in a number of acquittals in Okinawa, mainland Japan, and Korea. Ernesto worked on a number of high-profile cases that led him to various locales in the Pacific Rim in order to conduct pre-trial investigations. In one high-profile case, Ernesto even took depositions in the city of Manila, Philippines, in order to effectively defend his client against rape charges. This resulted in the dismissal of rape charges despite the highly politicized nature of the case involving his U.S. service member client and a Filipina accuser on Okinawa. The dismissal was reported on the first page of local and national papers.

After successfully completing his assignment on Okinawa, Ernesto returned to the Continental United States and accepted the position of Senior Defense Counsel at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. As the Senior Defense Counsel, Ernesto oversaw hundreds of courts-martial and separation boards that litigated at this very busy field office. Although Senior Defense Counsels are not typically expected to try cases, Ernesto broke the mold, trying a number of courts-martial as the Senior Defense Counsel, and achieving a high rate of success in an incredibly high number of contested trials. Ernesto also achieved a full acquittal in another highly publicized contested rape case that resulted in a full acquittal. In a dramatic turn of events, Ernesto’s cross-examination of the accuser resulted in the revelation that she was the perpetrator of a burglary of the home of the accused. The client in this case successfully obtained his Medical Board benefits due to injuries from an I.E.D. and successfully and voluntarily retired from an honorable 14-year career.

From Ernesto’s court-martial experience, he was asked by leadership to give training to other military defense counsel. Ernesto gave a class on “Cross-Examination in Sexual Assault Cases” at the Annual CONUS Trial Defense Service Conference in Tampa, Florida. Ernesto also gave a training session titled “Innocence Lost: Cross-Examining Child Victims” at the USATDS Pacific Rim Regional Conference in Seoul, South Korea. He also taught on “The Art of Taking Depositions” at the USATDS Pacific Rim Regional Conference held in Dongducheon, South Korea.

When Ernesto was in the military, he also served as an appointed part-time Military Magistrate. His function was to preside over pre-trial confinement hearings and to render decisions on whether probable cause existed. He alone determined whether the factors were present that required the pre-trial confinement of an accused. Ernesto also analyzed investigation files to determine the legality of the issuance of search and seizure warrants. As a part-time Military Magistrate, it was Ernesto’s duty to balance the facts presented, analyze witness statements and allegations, and to determine whether or not a probable cause to conduct a search and seizure was warranted. Having held the position of a part-time Military Magistrate and having been trained by a Military Judge prior to his appointment, Ernesto is especially skilled in drafting Motions to Suppress or any motions to the Military Court seeking to suppress illegally obtained evidence.

Ernesto also served as a Legal Advisor for Army 15-6 Investigators, which are also referred to as Command Investigations or Formal and Informal Investigations in other branches of the military. In this role, Ernesto advised field-grade officers appointed by the General Courts-Martial Convening Authority who were tasked with conducting investigations into suspected misconduct within the unit. The role of a 15-6 Legal Advisor is an important one, and Ernesto served as the legal advisor on several high-profile 15-6 investigations conducted in Baghdad, Iraq, during 1st Cavalry Division operations from 2006-2008.

Ernesto also served as the Article 32 Legal Advisor for numerous Hearing Officers of Article 32 hearings and as a Summary Courts-Martial legal advisor in a number of Summary Courts-Martial at Fort Hood, Texas.

Ernesto graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1996, where he was active in student government as well as participating in a number of sports, including the Notre Dame Boxing Club. Ernesto also lived in Westwood, California, and studied economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. When he graduated from Notre Dame in 1996, Ernesto was accepted into the University of Missouri (“Mizzou”) School of Law in Columbia, Missouri.

After his first year in law school, he served as a clerk intern in Kansas City, Missouri, under The Honorable Dean Whipple, Federal District Judge of the Western District of Missouri. Judge Whipple was a highly regarded Eighth Circuit Federal Judge in Kansas City. Because of this opportunity to work directly with Judge Whipple and his clerks, Ernesto became keenly aware of the intricacies of complex civil and criminal federal litigation. Working on influential federal cases from “in chambers” became an important chapter in his development as a military lawyer.

In 1998, Ernesto was hired by the oldest and one of the then-largest law firms in the State of Nevada, the law firm of Rawlings, Olson, Cannon, Gormley, and Desruyisseaux, located in Las Vegas, Nevada (now Olson Cannon Gormley & Stoberski). He was initially hired on as a clerk for two summers. The Partners of the firm hired him as an Associate immediately upon his graduation from law school in 1999, and he was sworn into the State Bar of Nevada in 1999. Ernesto thrived as an Associate with the firm, earning respect from other Associates and Partners alike for his diligent work ethic and outstanding results.

When the time was right, he landed a position working with renown Las Vegas defense lawyer Tom Pitaro. Here, he learned the technique of using aggressive, bulldog tactics to beat prosecutors in court. Ernesto worked with this tenacious lawyer whose career extended all the way back to the mob days in Las Vegas, having represented several famous mobsters from the old days of Las Vegas. Ernesto learned many techniques that he continues to use in Military Courts as a model for aggressive litigating that gets results.

Much of Ernesto’s reputation as a relentless cross-examiner began during his career in Las Vegas. He worked on several high-profile criminal cases as a young Associate, such as State of Nevada v. Murphy, a homicide case dubbed the “Binion Murder Mystery” as portrayed on CNN, Court TV, and numerous other local and national television shows. Several books, such as Murder in Sin City and Quicksilver, were based on this high-profile murder case involving the death of Benny Binion, an heir to the family empire that began with Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Ernesto began his career learning from the best lawyers in the city, handling complex murder cases as well as difficult federal cases involving high-level drug distribution and possession allegations. He also had the opportunity to work with famed Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on the Murphy case. The client was ultimately released from jail following a successful appeal that resulted in the overturning of her conviction two years prior.

Ernesto also worked on a high-level appellate case in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for an accused charged with smuggling millions of dollars’ worth of narcotics from Mexico into the United States. This appeal was complex and involved international border issues as well as cutting-edge case decisions involving the presentation of drug evidence in the courtroom. Ernesto also litigated criminal immigration defense cases in Las Vegas that were appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is akin to being the Supreme Court in the field of immigration law.

While in the JAG Corps, Ernesto served in a number of positions that broadened his experience in military law and courts-martial defense. Ernesto also deployed to Baghdad for a 15-month deployment with the First Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. In Baghdad, Ernesto was assigned a position as an Operational Law Attorney advising commanders on the Rules of Engagement and Contract and Fiscal Law in theater. This experience of working contracts and fiscal law downrange also provided knowledge he would later use in the representation of service members facing court-martial for financial fraud crimes against the Government. Ernesto served as a Prosecutor in the Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division and this service as a former prosecutor gives him a unique advantage that many military defense lawyers do not have. Ernesto served as the primary advisor to the Special Court-Martial Convening Authority and subordinate commanders in cases in which he served as the lead prosecutor. Ernesto also served as a Recorder (the government representative) in administrative separation boards and coordinated criminal investigations with MPI, CID, investigating officers, and company commanders. As a former prosecutor, Ernesto also advised company and battalion commanders, prepared charge sheets, and litigated government motions. Ernesto’s service as a prosecutor with the Air Cavalry Brigade undoubtedly gives him a unique advantage as a criminal defense lawyer.

Ernesto focuses on court-martial defense and separation boards. He has litigated hundreds of courts-martial and trials beginning in early 2007 that garnered high-profile media attention and were covered by major news outlets such as CNN, ABC News, Fox News, and even periodicals such as Rolling Stone. Ernesto also contributed to a multi-series documentary titled The War Comes Home by Elliot Smith of Bloomberg News, which is about service members who deploy to war but return with serious mental and behavioral issues. The Washington Post had contacted Ernesto to act as a subject-matter expert for articles involving a high-profile sex assault scandal at the Naval Academy involving allegations against several football players from the academy.

In 2019, Ernesto was asked to teach Constitutional Law Class on “Unlawful Searches and Seizures” at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. In 2022, Ernesto was asked to provide videotaped expert analysis in a pilot documentary developed by The History Channel. The documentary involved WikiLeaks footage of the July 2007 airstrike that led to the court-martial of Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning.

Since leaving Active Duty with an Honorable Discharge, Ernesto has tried hundreds of military courts-martial and separation boards all around the globe, to include the Continental United States, Hawaii and Alaska, Germany, England, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Okinawa. Gapasin has also represented service members in Poland, Belgium, Turkey, and Djibouti, Africa.